CF: 1 Year Later
by BikerFujin
Summary: Note: If you don't like Yolei, DON'T read this. Pretty much, Zell decides to be mushily romantic for once on the birthday of a certain girl.


Collision Factor: One Year Later...  
  
Just to repeat what I said in the summary, if you don't like Yolei, DON'T READ THIS FIC!   
  
Same goes for if you don't like "lemons", as they call them.   
  
Like said, don't like it? Don't read it. Simple.  
  
Rating: R  
  
Love is strange sometimes. You could be walking along, minding your own business, and suddenly, wham, it hits you. Although in the case of Zell Dincht, it literally hit him. Or rather, he ran into her. In this particular case, the "it" or "her" was the pretty, bright, yet disturbingly protective Yolei Alcher. They say love works in mysterious ways, but do "they" know that sometimes even a painful accident can set the stage for a mutual crush that would blossom into a lovely romance?   
  
This tale takes place about a year after the "accident", just around the time of Yolei's eighteenth birthday. It hadn't taken Zell nearly that long to realize how he felt, but he spent the rest of that year considering how to act on his affection without scaring the poor girl.   
  
Finally, on the tenth of March, over a week before what he called "the Big Day", an idea hit him. Not in the same physical way that Yolei had that one day, but it hit him anyway. The idea was simple enough, he would surprise her with a romantic dinner, complete with wine, roses, and candles. Then he'd curl his arms around her, and tell her exactly how he felt about her. The idea came from both Squall, who had suggested that he just talk, and Irvine, world famous expert on women, whose idea was to "treat her like the angel she is". Of course, this nearly resulted in Mr. Kinneas being beaten to a pulp, and would have if Zell hadn't been so preoccupied with his plan.  
  
It took that week just to get everything ready, in his mind everything had to be perfect. It wasn't easy to discover what Yolei's favorite food, flower, and wine was without her finding out what he was up to, but Zell simply responded with a cute little "Just curious, YoYo."  
  
After finding out that she liked strawberry wine, roses, and absolutely loved chicken stir fry above all other foods, he decided it was worth the effort. He wasn't that bad of a cook, both in his opinion and in hers, roses were easy to find, and a shop in Balamb, which sold all sorts of fine vintage, was known to carry strawberry wine. All that he needed to find was a pack of vanilla candles. In the past year, Zell had noticed that Yolei had a bit of a vanilla-ish scent to her. Her room at Garden smelt strongly of it, and even her kisses reminded him of vanilla ice cream. It was the perfect scent for the occasion.   
  
Slowly, and almost painfully, March twentieth, the Big Day, came, and Zell was a nervous wreck.   
  
The whole evening was elaborately planned out, to the point that even his Ma knew about it. Knowing what her son's plan was, she had agreed to be out for the better part of the night. As for gifts, he had a bracelet, which Ma had bought for the girl who she hoped, and probably would be her daughter in law someday, along with his personal gifts to her, which would remain a secret until Yolei saw them. After setting the table, and decorating the whole house, everything was finally perfect.  
  
Even so, when the doorbell rang that night, Zell almost jumped out of his skin. He bolted to the door, opened it, and squeaked. Naturally this caused him to go completely red, and made Yolei giggle quite a bit.  
  
"Hello to you too, Zelly! Um..Are you gonna let me in, or are ya just gonna stand there and stare at me?"   
  
"Uhm, oops, Sorry!" The poor boy stepped to the side, letting her enter the room. Immediately, she stopped giggling, and gasped.   
  
"My God..."   
  
"Huh? What?" Now his nerves were at an all time high, and his first thought was that she didn't like his surprise. Of course, he was dead wrong.  
  
"It's beautiful!" Proving how much she liked it, Yolei practically leapt into Zell's arms, pulling him into a rather nice hug. "Thanks, Zelly." He responded in the best way he could think of, by whispering "Happy Birthday, baby" into her ear, then treating her to a deep kiss, which she happily returned. After several seconds, mostly to regain lost air, the kiss was broken, and she leaned into his embrace, toying with his ponytail while he stroked her hair and nibbled her top lip.   
  
"So...what's for supper?" By this time, Zell had regained at least some of his nerve, and grinned at her.  
  
"Take a guess, YoYo." She sniffed the air, and gasped again.  
  
"Chicken stir fry...Okay, Dincht, what do you want?"   
  
"Just to make you happy, baby." His lips moved from her mouth to her forehead, and planted a soft kiss there, making her sigh contentedly.   
  
"Y'know, besides fighting, that's what you do best." There was another long moment of silence, broken by a question from Zell.  
  
"Shall we dine now, my lady?" She gave him a nod of approval, he took her hand, and they made their way to the table. Zell pulled out a chair, and Yolei sat in it, smiling and almost giggling when he pulled his chair right beside hers, curling a protective arm around her waist. She picked up her fork, and dug into the plate before her, a look of deep thought on her face as she munched and swallowed the first mouthful.  
  
"Surprisingly delicious!" Zell looked at Yolei with disbelief.  
  
"Don't tell me...that after this long...you still doubt my cooking skills!!" Seeing that he actually seemed mad at this, she giggled, and took advantage of his open mouth with a kiss. This kiss calmed him down, and in a matter of seconds he was happy again, stroking her hair with one hand and rubbing her shoulder with the other.  
  
"Zelly, after this long, I don't doubt ANYTHING about you. Or us." She took another bite of the delicious food and leaned into his arms once more. "Especially because I KNOW I'm gonna love you for a very, very long time."   
  
"Another year, I hope?" His tone was both teasing and loving.   
  
"Another hundred years, I think.." Several bites later, she was finished, and had moved on to savour the feeling of his arms around her. "Zell?"  
  
"Hm?"  
  
"Can I open my gifts now?" Yolei asked this with the innocence of a little girl at Christmas, an association which brought a smile to Zell's face as he placed the packages beside her on the table.   
  
"Sure, but open mine last, okay, YoYo?" With a wave of his hand, he gestured to the larger box. "Believe me, you're going to love it."   
  
"But...who's this from if it's not yours?" Somehow, this brought confusion into the girl's face, but almost instantly she realized who the unknown giver was. "Ma?"   
  
"M-hm." Zell nodded, hugging her even closer than before. "Y'know, of the millions of girlfriends I've had, you're the only one who Ma's actually liked about as much as I do?" She opened the package as he spoke, and it was both his comment and the gift that made her gasp. It was a gold charm bracelet, with all sorts of little things like cats on it, but what made her gasp was the biggest charm, which was the shape of Zell's tattoo besides a small heart. Zell cleared his throat.  
  
"Uhm, oh yeah. I made that one. Nice, huh?" A tear rolled down her cheek, causing the blonde to worry. "What's wrong, baby?" He whispered as he stroked the tear away. She shook her head.  
  
"Don't worry.. it's nothing. Just happy."  
  
"And realizing that this is your first real birthday in a few years?" Well, maybe she was happy, but Zell could still tell when something was bothering her, and this time was no exception.  
  
"Yeah." In a split second, Yolei's mood changed, and she began hugging Zell close, playing with his hair again. "Thanks..Zell."   
  
"Hey, don't thank me till you open my gift, baby!" He grinned cutely, as was his fashion, and handed her the parcel. "Enjoy!" This one was a bit easier to open. All Yolei had to do was pull the lid of the box off, releasing the sweet, leathery scent she usually associated with Zell into the air. At first, she simply stared into the box, as if something inside it might bite her, but after a second she reached in, grabbed the contents...  
  
And immediately planted a loving, definately happy kiss on Zell's cheek. He had given her a pair of his gloves, a sign of his devotion to her. But that wasn't all.  
  
"Put 'em on, baby." So she did, and the moment her right hand was fully in its glove, she felt something cold and metallic on her ring finger. She examined this, and her eyes went to the size of a saucer when she found a very pretty and likely very expensive ring there. It was gold, likely from the same store as her bracelet, and had two sapphires and two aquamarine stones bordering a diamond nearly the size of a pebble. Yolei looked from her finger to Zell, and her jaw dropped.  
  
"Z..Zell... D..does this mean..?" He nodded and kissed her cheek.  
  
"Yeah. It means I wanna be with you for a very, VERY long time, that you're the only girl I've ever loved for longer than ten minutes nonstop, and that I wanna marry you." At that moment, he moved to kiss her lips, and she didn't stop him. Instead, she did the farthest thing from stopping him, she slipped her fingers through his hair and closed her eyes, thinking that if the whole thing was a dream, then she didn't want to wake up.   
  
All too soon, Zell pulled away, still massaging her shoulder as Yolei, who had somehow moved from her chair to his lap, snuggled against his neck happily.   
  
"Love you, Zell."   
  
"The feelin's mutual baby." Another kiss, this time on her forehead, and she sighed happily once more.  
  
"I'm glad... I..I have a gift for you too, Zell.."  
  
This caught him completely by surprise.   
  
"Huh? What?" Anyone else but Yolei would have gotten mad, but she knew how shy Zell was. He probably knew exactly what she was hinting at, but was too nervous to make sense of it.  
  
".......Me." Never before, in all of Zell Dincht's twenty years of existence, had he ever heard such a direct hint. He turned red, gulped twice, and tried to look at her without fainting.   
  
"Y...You m...m..mean. you want us to......!?" Instead of answering vocally, she smiled and curled her arms around him again. "Oh come on, YoYo. This isn't fair! Answer me, baby. Ple--" Vanilla flavoured lips interrupted his rambling, and again Zell had his answer. The kiss was long, and near perfect, but he had to pull away, in a state of complete bliss at the moment. "...but why?"   
  
"Because, Zell. Because we need eachother. I can feel it in the way you hold me, like ya never want to let go.." She felt his hold on her strengthen, and smiled against his lips. " See? The best part is...I don't want you to let go. Ever."   
  
"That's good, YoYo.." The boy smiled back at her, and licked her top lip before continuing. "..But I hope you realize.."  
  
"Realize...what?"   
  
"Realize....that if I keep holding and kissing you like this, I won't be able to just..stop and let go." Yolei was stunned. Her sweet, shy Zell had never been so extremely outright with emotions before. Sure, he -had- smooched her less than a day after they first met, and almost immediately declared undying love for her, but on any sex-related matters, Zell was nearly as silent as Squall.  
  
"Alright. I don't want you to just stop and let go. I..I need you, Zell. I need to feel your touch. Y'know, like the way you stroke my hair when we kiss. Most of all, Zelly.." Suddenly her voice trailed off, and she blushed as she leaned against him.   
  
"Mm? What is it, baby?" If he noticed her sudden outburst of shyness, he didn't say so. Instead, he relaxed her by stroking her hair and cheeks.  
  
"I...Z..Zell...I..n..need you to love me. P..Physically, I mean.." Realizing that her face was now as red as it had been on the night they shared their first kiss, Yolei gulped. "I...I know it sounds corny but...R..right now it feels like my heart's crying out for you. L..Like it needs for me to be...um, y'know..with you." The girl tried to speak again, but couldn't. This he noticed, and set out to calm her nerves. He realized that he was just as jumpy as she was about going any further, but tried not to pay any attention to his own foolish nervous system. Yolei was much more important at the moment. Slowly, gently, Zell curled his arm around her waist, and kissed her ear, whispering sweetly.  
  
"Later. C'mon, I wanna show you the sunset.." Still unable to speak, she merely nodded and rose with him. He smiled at her when she moved towards the door. "Not that way, YoYo." Then he took her arm in his, putting the bottle of wine in his free hand. "Er, baby? Can you ah, carry the glasses for me?"  
  
Not trusting her voice yet, Yolei nodded and carefully took two wine glasses in her hand. Zell grinned cutely at her, and steered her in the direction of the stairway. Right then, she regained a little bit of confidence in her vocal cords.  
  
"W..where're we...g...going?"   
  
"It's another one of my gifts. No matter what, I was going to let you have the priveledge of being able to see my room. I didn't plan on aah.." The blonde frowned as he tried to think of a dignified way of saying what he had to say. Fortunately, she saved him by finishing his sentence.  
  
"Going all the way, Zelly?"   
  
"Yeah! That's it!" Another grin as he shoved the bottle of wine into his side pocket, picked Yolei up, careful not to break the bottle or the glasses, and kissed her nose. "Let's go! I don't want to miss the best sunset in town." She giggled at this remark, and Zell blushed a little. "I, ah, didn't mean it like THAT!"  
  
"Ssh. I know. Just hurry up! I'm curious about this 'view' of yours. And not that kind of view either." The girl giggled again and let Zell carry her up the stairs without further comment. He carried her all the way to his window, then let her down and smiled at her.  
  
"So...what do you think?"   
  
"It's...beautiful, Zell." She smiled right back at him, and sat on the bed. "Oo, bouncy!"   
  
"Heyy! Cut that out, YoYo! You'll mess up the sheets!" In his attempt to appear mad, Zell couldn't help but smile and sit down beside her, curling his arms back around her and planting a cute little kiss on her cheek.  
  
"I know, but in a while, the sheets'll be messed up anyway. What's the big deal?" Yolei giggled again. "I'm kidding, y'know.."  
  
"I know, I know. But I promised you a sunset first, and a sunset is what my Yolei is going to get." Amazed at how his inner poet had magically surfaced, he kissed her cheek again, and got up. Then he walked over to the window, moved the curtains, and opened it. His next move was to smile again and gesture for her to come over to where he was. The sun was at just the right position when she had arrived beside him. He climbed out the window, sitting on wide ledge. Yolei followed Zell again, and gulped when she was safely on the ledge. "Don't worry, YoYo. You won't fall. I won't let you.." With this, he curled his arm protectively around her. "Unless I fall, you're safe. And I've only fallen once."   
  
"Zell......"  
  
"Ssh, baby. Just watch..." Nothing else was said as the sun slowly set, creating a rainbow of colours across the horizon. Splashes of red and pink reflected on the sea in what was truly the best view in Balamb. The sky began to darken, and a tiny star appeared.  
  
"Make a wish, Yolei.." Zell whispered, lifting her chin so she could see the little star. She nodded, and closed her eyes for a minute. Then she opened her eyes, and shivered. "You okay?"   
  
"Yeah. It's just a bit chilly up here."   
  
"Oh! Oops, sorry. I'll fix that." He flushed, and wrestled his jacket off before draping it over her shoulders. "There ya go."   
  
"Thanks." Yolei snuggled into Zell's arms again, and sighed happily. A few seconds later, he broke the silence.  
  
"So..."   
  
"Hm?" She opened an eye lazily to look up at him.   
  
"What'd ya wish for, YoYo?"  
  
"That, my dear Zell, is a secret."  
  
"Awww, come on!!"   
  
"Nah! You'll know if it comes true, Zelly. And believe me, it will if I have any say in things."  
  
As she spoke, the sun faded in the west, leaving a few rays of light on the horizon. "...Beautiful.."  
  
A soft sigh escaped her lips as she took in the wonderful sight before her, and Zell moved to kiss her forehead again.  
  
"Just like you, baby. Now, shall we move on, my Lady?"  
  
More giggles.  
  
"Zell, you've been reading those stories again, haven't you?"   
  
"Yeah, I guess I have."  
  
"Doesn't matter." Here she slipped her hand onto Zell's face and began tracing over the lines of his tattoo. "Let's go, Zell." There was a soft urgency in her voice, and instantly a very similar urgency flooded the blond man's mind and heart. He gently pulled her in from the window, pulled his arms around her, and kissed her deeply and lovingly. In the process of the smooch, Yolei moved her hand and unfastened the button on her jeans, then moved again in an attempt to unclip Zell's belt. The attempt failed shortly after the kiss ended, and he smiled softly at her.   
  
"Don't worry. This thing confuses even me sometimes." Swift, gloved fingers unfastened the offending belt, and he smiled softly once more. "Ya know, this is a bit awkward..."  
  
"Y...yeah.." Not knowing what else to say, she sat down on the bed, a move that he copied several long moments later, following it with another embrace.   
  
"W...what n...n..now, Yolei?" It was obvious now that neither one had a clue what to do now. Yolei shrugged, unzipped her jeans and began slipping them down. Zell gulped and stopped her. "Aah, that's n...not a good idea i..if we want to...y'know...take it slow.." Immediately after he spoke, he leaned closer to her, and began kissing her cheek.   
  
"Oh...OOooh.." The girl gasped as his lips moved down to her neck. She let the jacket fall from her shoulders and gasped again. He was now caressing her breast as his tongue tickled her neck, so Yolei did the only logical thing she could think of. She lifted his hand from her chest, and pulled her top off, letting him get back to work immediately after.   
  
"Th...thanks, baby..." He whispered, and lowered his lips again, this time moving to her collarbone and stopping near the strap of her bra. "D....do you mind if I.....?"   
  
"N.....nno...Go on, Zell-sama.."  
  
So he went on, tugging the straps off her shoulders. Right before he moved to unhook the garment, Yolei stopped him once more. "W...wait... I want to show you somethin' first, Zelly.."  
  
"Hmmuh? W..what is it, YoYo?" She didn't respond immediately, but lowered her jeans just low enough to be even with her panties, holding her hand over a patch of skin.  
  
"Remember that day in Esthar? When I went shopping without your permission and lost points for it?"  
  
"....Yeah...What about it?"  
  
"Well....I got this done, and I didn't want anyone to know...See?" With her face a nervous shade of pink, Yolei moved her hand, and Zell saw what had nearly caused her to fail her SeeD test.   
  
It was a tattoo.  
  
At first glance, Zell thought it was just a simple rose, but when he got a better look, he noticed something. The rose seemed to be wrapped around a smaller version of his own tattoo, like a vine on a trellis.   
  
"........." For the longest time, he was speechless. "You got that...less than two days after you met me...?"  
  
"Y...yeah. Like it?"  
  
"Baby, I love it..." Trying to get back to business, he lowered his head to where the tattoo was, and gently licked it. "...But not nearly as much as I love you, Yo.."  
  
"That's corny, Zell..But beautiful.....MMmm...love ya too..."  
  
By the time that he had finally moved back up to her bra, she was clinging to him. He took this as a sign that Yolei, his sweet angel, was ready to move on, and let her slip his tank top off. Her hands lingered on his chest with a gentle massaging motion which made him arch his back and moan, whispering her name ever so quietly.   
  
Zell Dincht had a nice body, a fact that was no secret to anyone. However, few knew exactly how nice it was, which had always suited him nicely. Until he met Yolei, that is.   
  
She was an angel in his mind, no doubt rewarding him for some unknown good deed he had done, and he gladly returned the favour by treating her with more love and respect than anyone else.   
  
"I heard that, Zelly.." A smug smile was on her face as she continued the treatment, the leather on her gloves feeling very nice to him, especially as it grazed over the sensitive skin of his nipples. He whispered her name again, a tad bit louder this time, and she abruptly stopped. "Z..Zell, you're forgetting something..."  
  
"Oops...Sorry.." It took several seconds for him to regain control of himself, and when he did his first move was to kiss her, finally removing her bra with a satisfied whimper. He tossed it to the side and nervously stroked over her top lip with his tongue. Right when he was going to begin rubbing her beautiful breasts, and beautiful they were, she pulled away with a cute smile. It was all the boy could do not to either drool all over her, or to lose himself at the sight of her, but he happened to be fairly strong-willed. "W...what do you want me to..to do now, Yolei?"   
  
Zell suddenly began to stare at her bare chest, but caught himself, went a dark shade of red, and looked at the floor. In a surprising gesture, Yolei slipped her hand to his cheek and shifted so that she could gaze into his eyes.   
  
"Love me, Zell.."  
  
With this, Zell could no longer resist his longing. He slipped his arms back around her, and gently lowered their bodies down to the bed.   
  
"Yolei....you do know that....." Gulp. "...this's gonna hurt, d..don't ya..?"  
  
"Y...Yeah...I..I'll be alright...as long as you're here.."  
  
"O...Okay, baby..But promise me somethin'..."  
  
"Hmm?"   
  
"Promise me....that you'll let me know right before I..y'know...take you."   
  
"I'll let you know, Zell. I promise." Zell smiled at her, and then kissed her lips tenderly. He cautiously slipped her jeans off before unzipping his own with a cute, embarrased look on his face. By now his hair had fallen out of its familiar spiky pattern, but in Yolei's eyes he looked absolutely wonderful.   
  
There they were, Zell with his jeans unzipped and embarrased beyond belief, and Yolei in her panties, acting like everything was normal. There they stayed for several moments, until he finally got up the courage to remove his jeans. Then the blond slipped down to his angel's waist, and left a trail of kisses from her belly button to her panties. He tugged them down gently, slowly, his breath coming to him in gasps now. With a face blushing so much it seemed purple, he glanced down at what he just revealed, and immediately the blush deepened. Shaky fingers moved to stroke the patch of hair, and a question made its way to his lips.  
  
"W...w....what now, Lei?"  
  
"Go slow, Zell. Do whatever you want.. Just...be careful, okay?"  
  
That didn't really help his situation, but it did give him an idea.   
  
"Alright, baby." Zell did the most logical thing he could think of, which was lower his head and kiss her, his lips making love to her gentle pleasure center. She trembled a little, and gasped.  
  
"Mmm...feels so...perfect...Zell.." She slipped her fingers into his hair, encouraging him to go on, and he wasn't about to let her down. He loved her too much to let her down now. Determined to make her happy, he began to nibble gently on the one spot that he instinctively knew would cause a reaction. It worked. The reaction he had been needing came in less than a minute when Yolei screamed Zell's name.   
  
She probably screamed it loud enough for everyone in Balamb to hear, but Zell didn't care. There was only one person that mattered to him then, and that person was Yolei. If his neighbors heard, and spread gossip, it wouldn't matter to him.   
  
After she screamed, he moved up again, and kissed her, wrapping his arms snugly around her after removing his boxers.   
  
"Zell...thank you.." Yolei whispered when the kiss suddenly ended.   
  
"Don't thank me yet, Yolei..." He planted a kiss on her cheek, and smiled warmly. "Especially when I should be thanking you...And I will be, later.."   
  
"Sssh...Less talk, more love, Zell-sama.."   
  
"I -love- how you think, baby.." This time, he kissed her mouth, both closing their eyes. She spread her legs for him, and with a deep breath, he entered her. Zell couldn't help pulling away long enough to gasp at the feeling, and neither could his dear Yolei.   
  
He had been so darn naive, thinking that the feeling of being one with the most wonderful human being on earth could compare in any way with something as insignificant as a battle. It was more like a kiss, one that spread deep in to Zell's very heart and felt so....good to him.   
  
Several kisses later, Yolei finally spoke.  
  
"Zell....go on, my wonderful angel..."   
  
"A...a...alright, baby... " With his harsh breaths, Zell was surprised he could speak and not croak. Nodding at her request, he pulled his hair out of its pony, and slipped further into her. "Remember, Yo...Yolei..."  
  
She took his cue, nodded, and tangled her fingers into her hair. There was no way she wouldn't remember her promise, if what everything she had heard was true. Long, wonderful moments passed, and soon she felt him rubbing her exactly the right way. His hands were delighting in being able to stroke her breasts, and she was delighting in the way he was making her feel. He slipped even further into her, and she took a deep, sharp breath.   
  
"Zell....." The gentle word stopped him from doing anything but kissing her, and he knew straight away that he was coming dangerously close to taking her.   
  
Right away, he changed his pace, going from "Let's get this over with" to "Careful, don't want to hurt her" in a split second. Zell kissed Yolei and gently slipped further into her, until she made a noise that sounded a lot like a cross between a gasp and a whimper. Now he hugged her close, kissing away the tears that were starting to fall down her cheeks.   
  
"Ssh...Lei-chan..don't cry...I'm so sorry, baby.." Zell kissed more tears away, gave her a quick cure spell to make her feel better, and almost began to cry himself before Yolei responded.  
  
"N..no, Zelly...don't be sorry...It doesn't hurt very much now..."  
  
It was true. Now that the pain was fading, Yolei could honestly say she loved the way it felt to be physically and emotionally united with him, and voiced her opinion by gasping his name again. Her voice was music to Zell's ears, and made him need her even more.   
  
"Yolei...oh, God..Yolei.." By now he was slipping in and out of her faster, knowing full well that he was coming close to losing himself and wanting to do so inside her sweet body. Every second counted, and went by in total harmonious bliss, accompanied by whimpers of pleasure and the gasping of names. At long last, Zell gasped her name one last time, an action that she echoed mere seconds later, and he came inside of her, leaving the pair to feel the effect of a rapturous   
  
orgasm. He collapsed beside her, and was swift to curl his arms back around her waist and kiss her.   
  
"Th...thank you, Yolei." It took a while for him to regain his voice, but the tone was gentle, tender and loving, much unlike its harshness earlier. The boy wouldn't have had it any other way, and kissed her forehead. "I love you so much, Yolei.."  
  
"Zell..I love you too...And...I never want this night to end..."  
  
"It doesn't have to, Lei-chan..We can lay like this forever if you want to.." If Yolei wanted to lay in the comfort of Zell's arms, then that was perfectly alright with him. He was getting used to the feel of her beside him, lying contently in his arms, and was beginning to realize that he had needed this moment for a very long time, perhaps all of his life. Well, he had her now, and wasn't about to let go for anything. There was something about the way he said her name, the way he held her, and everything he did for her that made Yolei feel complete, and for the first time in Hyne-knew-how-long, she didn't feel lonely at night now that he was in her life.   
  
"I want to, Zell...No, I need to..." She looked up into his eyes and cuddled into him before shivering a little.   
  
"Cold, baby?" What a stupid question, Dincht, he thought as he pulled some blankets around them, curling his arms back around her lovingly. It worked, and the shivering stopped.   
  
"That's better...Thanks, Zell."   
  
"Don't mention it, Lei.." He kissed her nose cutely, making her giggle.  
  
"Y'know, I love it when you call me that, Zelly."  
  
"I'm glad you approve, Lei. Like I said, all I want to do is make you happy.." Zell's voice trailed off with a yawn, and he grinned sheepishly. "Er..sorry, baby."  
  
"It's all right. All I want to do is be here with you..." Now it was Yolei's turn to yawn and when she did, she snuggled closer into the warmth of his arms. "So I guess that works out perfectly...Just like us, Zelly.."  
  
"Yeah, Yolei..." At that moment, he couldn't keep his eyes off her. In his arms, she looked so beautiful, yet so vulnerable. In other words, she looked about as vulnerable as he felt. "Don't ever leave me, okay, Lei?"   
  
"Huh? Why would I, especially after all we've been through? Especially after tonight?"  
  
"I....don't know.....sorry..."  
  
"No, Zell, don't apologize.." Apparently it was now her turn to take control, to be the one to kiss the tears from his face. Zell hadn't even noticed when he started to cry, but he didn't even try to hide the tears when he eventually noticed.   
  
"Lei....y...you've been l..lonely too, haven't you? E...especially a...a...at night..."   
  
"Yeah. It was worse before I met you, though..It was like noone.."  
  
"..Gave a damn about you, or even wanted you around..." The tears were slowing by now. "Y'know what, baby?"  
  
"Hmm? What?"  
  
"I think we saved eachother." One final tear slipped down his cheek, and he kissed her cheek. "I know that if I hadn't met you when I did, I'd probably be a wreck. Or worse, Yolei."  
  
"Ssh, don't think about it, Zell.." Just listening to the tone of her voice made Zell realize why he loved this girl so much. She loved him, respected him, and still managed to give off an aura of sophisticated grace no matter what she did.   
  
"Alright, Yolei." He yawned again, with yet another cute smile as he held her close. "Happy Birthday, baby."  
  
"Thank you. Especially for letting me spend it with you.." Yolei lifted a gentle hand to Zell's cheek and tenderly stroked the black lines of his tattoo again before taking the liberty of kissing him. For what seemed like an eternity, Zell could think of nothing else except the beautiful creature whose sweet lips were locked with his, and how much he loved her. Eventually, he had to pull away for air, and then he yawned a huge yawn. He was tired, they both were, but part of him wanted to stay up and talk with her a little longer. Yolei had other plans. "I think it's bedtime, Zell.."  
  
"Sounds good, Yolei.." Zell meant to reach up and flick off the light, but then he noticed that the light had never been on in the first place. He blushed a little, and settled on snuggling up with his arms around Yolei and a content smile on his face. "G'night, baby..and sweet dreams."   
  
Before he dozed off, he managed to kiss her forehead one last time, making her smile and whisper, "I will, with you next to me..Love ya."  
  
Finally, she too surrendered to sleep and the dreams within it.  
  
Morning came slowly several hours later, filling the room with early spring sunlight. Zell was awake shortly after sunrise, still amazed about what happened the night before. He looked down at Yolei, only to see that she was sleeping with the same gentle smile that she had fallen asleep with.   
  
Determined not to wake her up, he gently stroked a few stray hairs away from her face. While he was doing this, there was a soft knock on the door.  
  
"Ssh!"   
  
The intruder ignored Zell, and opened the door, revealing his mother.   
  
"How did it go, dear?"   
  
"Sssh..Ma, you'll wake her up.." Zell put a finger to his lips and wondered how his mom was going to kill him. "It went pretty well. She said yes, Ma."  
  
"Zell I'm so PROUD of you!!!" She beamed with motherly pride, then raised her eyebrow. "You ..did propose to her first, didn't you?"  
  
"Yes, ma, I did...Don't worry! We're getting married and you're.." He lowered his voice to a whisper when he felt Yolei wriggle in her sleep. "..Going to have the most wonderful girl in the world as your daughter-in-law." His whispering didn't help, she chose that moment to wake up and open one sleepy eye.  
  
"That's sweet, Zell...oh, hi Mrs. Dincht!" The girl blushed and waved nervously, trying to act casual. Unfortunately, Ma Dincht was much better at acting casual than she was, and smiled warmly.  
  
"Good morning, dear. Did you sleep well?" Zell's jaw dropped so quickly he thought it was going to fall off. Why wasn't his mom yelling at him, calling him an irresponsible idiot? Simple. Yelling wasn't the way she did things. She loved her son and his girlfriend too much to yell at him for this, especially when she knew they would last quite a long time.   
  
After Yolei nodded shyly, Zell hugged her.   
  
"Yeah, we slept pretty well, Ma. What's for breakfast?" Yolei couldn't help giggling at him for thinking with his stomach again, but then her stomach grumbled and she realized how hungry she was.   
  
"Zell, it's too early for breakfast. I only came in to check on you. You can go back to sleep, if you want to, and I'll wake you up later on."   
  
With that, Mrs. Dincht walked out, closing the door behind her.   
  
"Well, then..Shall we rest, my dear?"  
  
"That sounds wonderful to me, Zell.." Nothing more was said, and Zell kissed her one last time before cuddling into her.  
  
Soon they were both sleeping soundly, in the light of a wonderful spring morning.   
  
For Zell and Yolei, forever started the moment they fell asleep, and was likely to last, well, forever.   
  
With that moment came the realization that Yolei's wish had come true. 


End file.
